Poplar Road/I-85 medical offices near hospital approved

Fri, 04/26/2013 - 10:45amBen Nelms

Rezoning for another healthcare-related complex was approved last week by the Coweta County Commission. The 15-acre medical office and retail development will be situated on Poplar Road just west of Interstate 85.

The 113,300 square-foot medical office and retail development will be located on 15.13 acres on the northwest corner of Poplar Road and Newnan Crossing Bypass East near I-85. Applicant Poplar Road, LLC had requested the RC (Rural Conservation) zoning be changed to a split zoning, with 11.4 acres of Office-Institutional (O-I) zoning and 3.8 acres of Commercial Retail (C-3). The property will be divided into six tracts.

County Planning and Development Director Robert Tolleson said the Tract 2 portion of the proposal, the largest on the site, calls for the construction of a three-story medical office complex totaling 60,000 square feet along with seven single-story buildings ranging from 3,000-4,5000 square feet. Tract 5 includes a one-story office building of 4,100 square feet while Tract 6 would house a single-story office building of 4,100 square feet.

On the commercial side, Tract 1 on the northeast corner of the development would include a single-story retail building of 7,400 square feet, Tract 3 on the northeast side of the property would be the location of a one-story restaurant totaling 3,000 square feet and Tract 4 on the southeast side of the development would be the site of a single-story drug store totaling 10,400 square feet.

The planning department estimates that traffic counts during weekdays would total 4,990 vehicles while weekends would total 1,620 vehicles on Saturdays and 691 on Sundays.

The approval came with 11 conditions recommended by county planning staff.

Several neighbors prior to the vote surfaced concerns about stormwater runoff, future grading and property buffers. Those concerns are a part of the overall development process and will be covered as part of the site development activities, project representatives said.

The development is situated approximately 1,500 feet west of I-85. If approved, it will be positioned on the opposite side of I-85 from Piedmont Newnan Hospital and a growing number of large medical office buildings.